Seattle – Nordstrom isn’t just a chain of department stores. It’s also the brand of a business philosophy.
“People like to be treated well everywhere,” said Peter Nordstrom, 43, whose great-grandfather founded the company in 1901.
“If you can provide them with courteous service – and I know that sounds like an obvious thing – people respond to that,” said Nordstrom, who heads the chain’s 95 department stores.
Since the 1995 book “The Nordstrom Way,” it has been fashionable for companies that have nothing to do with retail to say, “We are the Nordstrom of … (fill in the blank).”
The University of Colorado Hospital, for example, last year advertised itself as “the Nordstrom of hospitals.”
After moving to the former Fitzsimons Army base, the hospital put a baby grand piano in its lobby and opened up suites with DVD players, granite countertops, queen beds and terry-cloth bathrobes.
To get one of these rooms, you must pay $700 above the going rate for a hospital bed. If this sounds appealing, you are either rich or a lot sicker than you think.
You might want to call Tommy Routsong, who recently boasted to the Dayton (Ohio) Business Journal that his business was the “Nordstrom” of funeral homes.
Or maybe you just need an adjustment – in which case, you could call Long Beach (Calif.) Spine Rehabilitation, “the Nordstrom of chiropractic health care,” says its owner, Dr. Marta Callotta.
Jeffrey Kagan, an Atlanta-based research analyst, once called Progressive Insurance “the Nordstrom of insurance because of its emphasis on customer service.” And a Goldman Sachs analyst once called Helzberg Diamonds the “Nordstrom of the jewelry business.”
I found plenty of other Nordstrom wannabes on the Internet last week.
“We’re the Nordstrom of civil engineering,” says April Mills Morris, owner of Associated Engineers of Ontario, Calif.
“Discover the Nordstrom of plumbing, heating and air conditioning companies,” reads the website of Whipple Plumbing, Heating & A/C in Salt Lake City.
“We are the Nordstrom of the carpet cleaning service world,” said Philip Beere of EcoFresh, in Scottsdale, Ariz.
“We like to think of ourselves as the Nordstrom of sex shops,” said Steve Wilson, co-owner of the Honeysuckle Shop, near Wrigley Field in Chicago.
Not everyone claiming to be “the Nordstrom of” has lived up to the name.
The website of Fore Her Golf makes this offer: “Let us be your golf haven for women, the ultimate female golf Mecca, the Nordstrom of ladies’ golf.”
But when you try to e-mail the company, you get this: “We are no longer available to be contacted. This site is only available for informational purposes.”
Richard Strong, founder of Strong Funds, based in Milwaukee, once boasted that he wanted to build “the Nordstrom of the financial industry.”
Last year, Strong agreed to pay $60 million to settle allegations that he improperly traded his namesake funds, taking gains from his shareholders. The settlement ended Strong’s career as well as his alleged customer service.
So what does Peter Nordstrom admire? Another Seattle-based company called Starbucks. He and Starbucks chief Howard Schultz are owners of the Seattle SuperSonics basketball team.
Starbucks has “this theory that everybody can appreciate good service and a quality product,” Nordstrom said. “They were able to do it with something that was $3.”
There’s a story about Nordstrom that goes like this: A customer once brought some faulty tires into a Nordstrom. Nordstrom never sold tires, but a salesperson gave the customer a refund anyway.
It’s the stuff of urban legends, but Nordstrom officials swear it’s true. They say it happened in 1975 after Nordstrom bought stores from Northern Commercial of Alaska – which did sell tires.
The lesson here is that if you want to know whether someone is really “the Nordstrom of” something, send them some tires and demand a refund.
Al Lewis’ column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. Reach him at 303-820-1967 or alewis@denverpost.com.
